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Mankind Et Everyman Avant-Propos De Jean-Paul Débax & André Lascombes Mankind et Everyman Avant-Propos de Jean-Paul Débax & André Lascombes coll. « Traductions introuvables : Théâtre Anglais Médiéval », 2012, p. 1-12, mis en ligne le 13 fevrier 2012, URL stable <https://sceneeuropeenne.univ-tours.fr/traductions/genre-humain-mankind>. Théâtre anglais Médiéval est publié par le Centre d’études Supérieures de la Renaissance Université François-Rabelais de Tours, CNRS/UMR 7323 Responsable de la publication Philippe Vendrix Responsables scientifiques Richard Hillman & André Lascombes Mentions légales Copyright © 2012 - CESR. Tous droits réservés. Les utilisateurs peuvent télécharger et imprimer, pour un usage strictement privé, cette unité documentaire. Reproduction soumise à autorisation. ISSN - 1760-4745 Date de création Janvier 2012 AVANT PROPOS P. 1-2 Mankind et Everyman Avant-Propos Jean-Paul Débax & André Lascombes Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance, Tours Ce premier volume d’une série projetée d’éditions-tra- ductions des œuvres sources du théâtre européen de la Renaissance, volume consacré au domaine anglais, pro- pose au lecteur deux pièces également représentatives, mais chacune à sa manière, de cette production drama- tique ; elles illustrent, l’une et l’autre, le théâtre de la fin du xve siècle : Mankind (Genre Humain), que nous connais- sons grâce au Manuscrit Macro datant de la fin du siècle, semble avoir été composé à une date très voisine de 1466, et d’autre part The Summoning of Everyman (La semonce ou Convocation de Tout-Homme, traduction/adaptation pro- bable de la pièce néerlandaise Elckerlijc) dont nous avons quatre éditions anciennes, chez deux impri- meurs différents, échelonnées de 1515 à 1535, mais pro- bablement composé avant la fin du siècle précédent. Ces deux pièces appartiennent à une catégorie sou- vent connue sous l’appellation de « moralité », ou pièce possédant une intrigue de type « Humanum Genus » ; elles exposent, selon un schéma récur- rent, le trajet vital du héros chrétien balloté entre tentation, chute et salut final. Hormis les spectacles de com- munauté ou « populaires », dont les textes ont été collectés (mais dans quel état !) dans le courant du xixe siècle, et des pièces religieuses, ou « Passions » (en anglais Mysteries), souvent réunies en cycles attachés à des villes marchandes et actives, peu de témoins dramatiques antérieurs aux deux pièces traduites ici sont à notre disposition. Parmi ceux-ci : un fabliau sur le sujet familier pour les médié- vistes, de la vieille entremetteuse et de sa chienne (Interludium de Clerico et Puella, des environs de 1300) ; et The Pride of Life, une pièce de facture assez archaïque (c.1350, connue par un manuscrit disparu en 1922), où le destin de l’homme est représenté par le rôle du « Roi de vie », et la vie elle-même par un combat chevaleresque contre la mort. Entre les deux autres pièces du manuscrit Macro, The Castle of Perseverance, des environs de 1425, est une pièce monumentale, dont le schéma est conforme à la structure de la Psychomachia, et qui se termine par un des rares « Procès de Paradis » de la littérature dramatique anglaise. Son ampleur et le nombre des thèmes abordés ont poussé les critiques à la considérer comme un archétype du genre « moralité », bien qu’elle en soit le seul exemple. Dans le même manuscrit figure une troisième pièce, Wisdom (c.1460), sorte de grand spectacle à mi-chemin du ballet et de l’opéra, sur le thème de la tentation de l’âme par Lucifer. Tout semble, à première vue, opposer les deux œuvres traduites ci-après : Genre Humain, pièce manifestement portée par une troupe expérimentée, semble avoir été destinée à des publics composites capables d’entendre l’ironie et de saisir la leçon morale derrière la verdeur de la forme et les pittoresques facéties et sail- lies d’une bande de coquins qui par deux fois entraînent le héros en tentation. À l’inverse, pour ce qui est du ton, La Convocation de Tout-Homme conte le drame aus- tère d’un homme que Mort menace soudain de disparition immédiate et qui ne reçoit évidemment aucun secours de ses amis, son entregent ou son argent. Toute baignée de piété sentimentale et angoissée, peut-être issue de la Devotio Moderna néerlandaise, et malgré une fin heureuse dans la droite ligne de la théologie catholique, cette pièce trouve souvent les accents de la tragédie. Nous espérons que le rapprochement de ces deux pièces permettra au lecteur de se convaincre de la diversité du théâtre anglais médiéval, et d’éviter ainsi la naïveté des censures péremptoires et sommaires dont il est trop souvent la cible. 2 AVAnt-prOPOS Genre Humain(Mankind) Introduction de Jean-Paul Débax coll. « Traductions introuvables : Théâtre Anglais Médiéval », 2012, pp. 1-24, mis en ligne le 13 fevrier 2012, URL stable <https://sceneeuropeenne.univ-tours.fr/traductions/genre-humain-mankind>. Théâtre anglais Médiéval est publié par le Centre d’études Supérieures de la Renaissance Université François-Rabelais de Tours, CNRS/UMR 7323 Responsable de la publication Philippe Vendrix Responsables scientifiques Richard Hillman & André Lascombes Mentions légales Copyright © 2012 - CESR. Tous droits réservés. Les utilisateurs peuvent télécharger et imprimer, pour un usage strictement privé, cette unité documentaire. Reproduction soumise à autorisation. ISSN - 1760-4745 Date de création Janvier 2012 INTRODUCTION - J.-P. DÉBAX P. 1-26 Genre Humain (Mankind) Introduction Jean-Paul Débax Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance, Tours Parmi toutes les pièces dites à intrigue « Humanum Genus » des xive et xve siècles en Angleterre, aucune n’est sans doute plus surprenante, plus déconcertante pour le lecteur/spectateur moderne peu familier avec le théâtre médiéval, et particulièrement anglais, que Mankind (que j’ai choisi de traduire par « Genre Humain »). En effet, le mélange, qui est dans cette pièce particulièrement déto- nant, entre un cadre religieux, l’évocation des fins der- nières de l’homme – sujet sérieux et prégnant entre tous – d’une part et, d’autre part, le comique débridé, la parodie de formes traditionnellement attachées au contexte religieux ambiant, la grossièreté, les sugges- tions scatologiques, l’ambiance populaire aux relents de paganisme, peuvent choquer ce spectateur non averti, et semble même mettre en question l’unité structurelle de la pièce. Certes, toutes les caractéristiques évoquées ci- dessus ne sont pas l’apanage exclusif de cette pièce, ou de ce type de pièces. Elles se retrouvent à des degrés divers dans l’ensemble du théâtre médié- val, tant anglais que plus largement européen. La grossièreté et la scato- logie sont abondantes dans les farces françaises des xve et xvie siècles. Les inuendos sexuels et érotiques ne sont pas absents du théâtre néerlandais des Spelen van Sinne, comme des comédies italiennes ou espagnoles. Le vocabulaire cru et l’allusion grivoise ne sont pas absents non plus du théâtre shakespearien. Mais, nulle part l’unité de ton n’est aussi manifestement bousculée, ni mise à mal que dans Mankind. Les farces et les moralités continentales répondent mieux, semble-t-il, aux exigences de cohérence qui ont fait la loi dans la littérature euro- péenne pendant de longs siècles, pour triompher à l’âge classique, et qui font encore partie de notre héritage culturel. Même si le Moyen Âge n’a pas atteint les extrêmes de cloisonnement des genres dramatico-littéraires qui ont régné à l’âge classique, on peut cependant avancer que nulle part ailleurs le spectateur n’est soumis à une douche écossaise d’une semblable intensité, et sa perplexité est tout à fait compréhensible. Cette traduction (et l’introduction qui l’accompagne) a justement pour but de faire connaître cette pièce qui nous paraît constituer, en raison même du choc que sa découverte peut produire, une bonne initiation à un domaine dramatique large- ment méconnu du public français (il n’existe pas à ma connaissance de traduction française publiée), et dont la langue quelque peu archaïque pourrait rebuter. Everyman Avant d’entreprendre une étude plus approfondie de Mankind, un détour s’impose par une autre pièce, Everyman, également traduite dans le présent volume, que les critiques ont souvent comparée à la présente pièce et classée dans la même catégorie de pièces « morales », ou pièces traitant du destin spirituel de la nature humaine. Certes, les bases théologiques (au sens large du terme) des deux pièces sont comparables : la nécessité pour tout homme dictée par l’Église chrétienne d’éviter les péchés catalogués par la tradition, pour soustraire l’âme aux châti- ments éternels de l’enfer après la mort du vivant. Une lecture, même hâtive, des deux pièces convainc probablement sans mal le lecteur qu’en tant que texte et que réalisation spectaculaire, et pour ce qui concerne la relation avec le spectateur et l’ambiance spirituelle informant l’action, elles sont diamétralement opposées. Une première remarque. Everyman n’est pas une pièce anglaise. Le texte anglais est une traduction/adaptation de la pièce néerlandaise Elckerlijk. Non que cette origine étrangère ait une grande importance en soi. Nous n’avons d’autre part aucun élément nous permettant d’apprécier le devenir de cette pièce depuis les 2 INTRODUCTION - J.-P. DÉBAX éditions du début du xvie siècle 1 et 1901, date de la première mise en scène moderne (et peut-être la véritable première mise en scène), qui a profondément frappé les litterati post-romantiques de ce début du xxe siècle et lui a forgé une renommée en partie fondée sur un malentendu. L’atmosphère sérieuse, relativement sombre et pathétique, comportant des accents tragiques (même si la réunion finale de l’âme avec son créateur peut être qualifiée de « happy ending ») convenait parfaite- ment à cette fin d’époque victorienne qui imposait une distinction radicale entre les genres dramatiques : la tragédie ne pouvait en aucun cas supporter l’intru- sion d’éléments comiques. Ainsi la pièce néerlandaise est-elle devenue pour les Anglais le symbole du drame médiéval national.
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